Thermal Insulation
Thermal insulation is an important technology to reduce energy consumption in buildings by preventing heat gain/loss through the building envelope. Thermal insulation is a construction material with low thermal conductivity. These materials have no other purpose than to save energy and protect and provide comfort to occupants.
The laws of heat transfer established that when a temperature difference between the internal and external or different parts of the building exists, this resulting in transfer of heat from the hotter to colder zones and this is referred as to thermal insulation.
This transfer of heat can take place by any of the three methods :
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Conduction.
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Convection.
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Radiation.
The rate of heat flow from one part to the other depends on the capacity of the building material or building unit such as wall, floor, roof, doors, windows etc.
Advantages of thermal insulation are as follows:
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Thermal insulation keeps the room cool in summer and hot in winter.
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Due to thermal insulation the demand of heating in winter and refrigeration in summer, is considerably reduced. This results in lot of fuel saving and maintenance cost.
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Use of thermal insulating material inside a room results in prevention of condensation on interior walls and ceiling etc.
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The use of thermal insulating materials further reduces the risk of water freezing in case of pipes and heat loss in case of hot water systems.